Enough about Eric Pickles. More about the Blob, please. The Blob is a 1958 B-movie about a protean jelly-like alien whose invasion of Pennsylvania seems unstoppable until hunky Steve McQueen takes out the space trash.

Excellent. But what's this got to do with the news? The Blob is also a term used by education secretary Michael Gove to lampoon critics in the education profession, including teachers who went on strike earlier this week.

Sounds like someone needs to go to simmer-down corner and think about why it's wrong to call teacher names. Gove is only copying William Bennett, a US education secretary who, in the 1980s, used the term to deride bureaucrats, unions, and education researchers sceptical of his reforms. Gove similarly believes a blob-like cabal is scuppering his initiatives.